Microphone refuses to work.

I previously owned a Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS, the microphone used to work beautifully. I used a eDimensional Audio FX Force Feedback headset and all was well.

Somewhere down the road something went sour, suddenly I couldn't record anything. I immediately assumed the headset went bad, so I purchased a new headset and a new sound card, a Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic.

I uninstall everything cleanly, and install everything fresh. I plug the new headset in the NEW sound card, everything sounds beautiful but still no recording.

I've tweaked the services.msc a bit, and msconfig some. I'm not sure if that's the key to the problem or not.

I feel completely helpless, as everything is brand new and I just want my mic to work again. Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

EDIT: I've made sure it wasn't muted, and I made sure the microphone was checked under the Recording options.